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Sunday, 24 November 2013

Brave Old World?

Katherine Lemieuxasks whether, fifty years after his death on November 22nd 1963, Aldous Huxley's vision of the future in his dystopian novel, 'Brave New World', has become a reality. This article was originally published in the 'Great Expectations' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in June, 2012.

Aldous Huxley

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Brave New World, written by Aldous
Huxley, is a novel that gives an insight into what Huxley thought the future
could hold for civilisation. He explores ideas considered miraculous and new at
the time of writing, 1931, and develops them, creating a world full of
amazement for the reader; a world like no other. Comparing this world to
today’s world is interesting because there are many contrasts and similarities.
There are signs that our world has developed along the lines that Huxley
suggested and there are also many signs that suggest it has not.

One
of the biggest differences between the two worlds is that the citizens of Brave New World are absolutely disgusted
at the thought of giving birth. Instead, they have hatchery centres where
babies are born in test-tubes. This allows control over population. In today’s
world there is no control over population. There is one similarity
however.In Brave New World the egg is fertilised outside of the body. This
does happen in today’s world and is known as IVF (in vitro fertilisation)
treatment. Although the egg is fertilised outside the body, it is then returned
to the body. On the other hand, the eggs in Brave New World are left in the
test-tubes until they are ready to be decanted. Nevertheless, it is possible
that in future years we will be able to produce test-tube babies, following the
lines that Huxley suggests. In Huxley’s world they do not have families and the
word “mother” is thought of as an expletive. This is completely different from
life today, in which families are at the heart of most people’s lives and the
word mother is used freely. A mother, in Brave
New World, would be extremely ashamed of having given birth in a natural
way, completely opposite to how a mother of today's world would react.

In
Brave New World there is a clear
separation between the different classes of society. There are the Alphas at
the top, down to the Epsilons at the bottom. It can be said that this is the
same in today’s world. There is a definite division between classes. However,
in Brave New World there is control
over the social classes, their caste chosen by a “pre-destinator”, and people
are conditioned to be happy in their caste and have no desire to belong to
another caste. For example, Epsilons are conditioned to enjoy menial jobs,
whereas Alphas would never dream of performing such a job. In today’s world no
such conditioning takes place and many people are unhappy with their class and
wish to belong to another one. Despite this, there are some people who are
happy and accepting of their class just as in Brave New World.

Conditioning
plays a very big part in the running of society in Brave New World. People are conditioned just after decanting, and
are conditioned through hypnosis sleep teaching. The sleep teaching teaches
them how to live and what rules to live by and ensures that the whole world
will run smoothly. In today’s society we are not conditioned in the same way
but we are still conditioned through education and upbringing and this can
affect the way we live our lives. For example, if you are taught that lying is
bad and you are punished every time you lie, eventually you will (hopefully)
learn that lying is wrong; you’ve been conditioned. We are not conditioned as
strongly as the citizens of Brave New
World are and are able to retaliate, but nonetheless it is a similar kind
of idea and in the future it could play a key role in how people behave.

There
is only one religion in Brave New World,
the religion of Ford, and everyone believes in it, unlike today’s world, in
which there are many different religions, from Christianity to Islam and
Hinduism, and people can choose what they wish or do not wish to believe.
Services in Brave New World take
place at “Singerys” and consist of singing lots of hymns to the heavens and
exchanging a sort of Eucharist, where they drink from the “loving cup” and take
a drug called “soma”. The service finishes with an “orgy porgy”. These services
are partially like Christian church services today, where hymns are sung to
praise the Lord, but instead of drinking from the ‘loving cup’ and taking drugs
they drink wine and eat bread. Also, the services do not end in an “orgy porgy”
as these services are formal and respectful.It is apparent that religion has not really followed along the lines
that Huxley suggested.

Relationships
in today’s world have most definitely not followed how Huxley suggested.
Whereas today you are only expected to have one partner, this is actually
frowned upon in Brave New World.
There they are encouraged to have lots of casual relationships rather than one
long term one. Nobody ever gets married; this is just too permanent. They also
encourage erotic play from a very young age something most definitely not
encouraged today.

Entertainment
is fairly similar in both worlds, both having restaurants and clubs. However
you could say it is further developed in Brave
New World. For example, instead of going to the cinema they attend the
“feelies”, which are like movies but with added special effects to
make you feel as if you are in the film. It makes use of the five senses.
Today’s world could be developing along those lines as we are beginning to have
4D films which combines a 3D film with physical effects, like the “feelies”.
Another form of entertainment in Brave
New World is scent organs which are organs that produce smells. Unfortunately,
our world so far has not been able to produce anything combining smells and
sounds. Sport is also a lot more developed in Brave New World. Sports games are based on games played today, for
example golf, but more updated versions. Instead of just golf they play
electro-magnetic golf and instead of just squash they play escalator squash.
Huxley obviously thought sport would evolve a lot more than it has done but,
you never know, in the future electro-magnetic golf could exist!

The
way of living in Brave New World are
very different from today. The people do not suffer solitude and are always happy.
Also, they do not suffer from illnesses, because cures have been found, and the
hospital is only a place for the dying. In addition, the citizens do not age
and whenever they want a break from reality they can swallow a gram of soma.
Soma is a type of drug but minus all the side effects. The person merely
swallows the soma and is whisked off to a fantasy holiday. None of these things
are possible in this present day.

Transport
in Brave New World is again a bit
more developed than in today’s world. Although the citizens use modes of
transport that are available in today’s world, instead of driving a car they
use helicopters. They do not even have cars. The citizens of Brave New World
also use the monorail. Transport is sort of developing along the lines that
Huxley suggested, especially in countries such as Japan and China, and it is
very possible that in the future we will be using his suggestions.

Overall,
I do believe that our present civilisation has developed partially along the
lines that Huxley suggested. However, I do think that it could develop even
more along the lines that he suggested in the future, as more scientific
discoveries are made.However, there are
many things that Huxley missed out in his novel that have developed, such as
mobile phones and computers. Looking back at when this book was written in
1931, the world has definitely developed, and will develop even more as we head
on into the future.